I need help.

[IanE]

Hello, I am trying to troubleshoot my mower and have no mechanical or small engine knowledge whatsoever so I could use a little help. I own a Super Bronco Troy-Bilt Riding Lawn Mower with a Briggs and Stratton 407577-0292-E1 engine. Originally the mower itself would not start. I replaced the starter, solenoid and battery. The battery was bad and I also just needed to reground the solenoid. Thinking I now finally get to cut my grass I start it up. It runs but immediately just blows out massive clouds of white smoke. The muffler (dual intake model nelson-7510616) is just pouring oil. I'm not sure what to do about this but I think its a blown head gasket. In addition to this issue there is a separate issue. When I tried to engage the blades the first time it immediately shut off. Even the slightest movement of the blades switch shuts off the thing. I am pretty confident that with some guidance I can repair this mower and save myself some money. If someone could please help me with this I would really appreciate it so my lawn is no longer the eyesore of the neighborhood.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Yep
Blown head gasket and blown wallet on stuff that was probably perfectly good.
The most likely scenerio goes like this
Fuel leaked past the float valve in the carburettor .
It then dribbled out of the vent which by law now has to go into the cylinder.
The cylinder filled with fuel which also leaked down past the piston rings and into the sump.
Liquids do not compress co when you tried to crank the engine, it got to just before TDC then stopped because it was trying to compress the fuel.
Continual attempts to start plus the new starter & battery eventually pushed the fuel past the head gasket.

Check the oil level,
Good chance it will be too high, thin and smell like fuel .
Unburned excess fuel & oil gets blown into the muffler .

 

[IanE]

Fortunately the only thing I wasted money on for sure was solenoid, the original starter had a piece broken off of it as soon as I went to remove it, I messed around with some of the connections and the pto switch started working. Now its just to get the thing to stay running. I will purchase a new head gasket and attempt to replace it. I appreciate the response.